We are the Gods // Aging . . . A Female's Perspective - Exhibition Catalog

WE ARE THE GODS jamie rose AGING. . .

A FEMALE’S PERSPECTIVE susan roden

COVER: Jamie Rose, Fortify, Charcoal, gold ink, 35″ x 44″, 2022; Susan E Roden, Blind As Bats Eyesight, fabric, thread, hand prints, glasses, florals, 51”x52”x26”, 2023

In an age where the rights of women are still being stripped, and our personhood still debated, the work of an artist becomes even more critical. With their social practice, Susan Roden and Jamie Rose not only speak truth to power, but imagine a world in which the dignity, agency, and power of women is universally recognized.

Aging . . . A Female’s Perspective by Susan Roden offers voice to people and topics our society tries to silence. For over a year, she has surveyed women about the physical, psychological, and societal effects of aging. Roden’s handmade dresses and tondos are fine art relics of these anonymous surveys. Her dresses represent different stages of life; childhood, adolescence, adulthood, etc. Love, loss, and change are stitched and stamped onto the garments, embodying the complexity of life. Quotes from the surveys decorate the walls, documenting the invisibility and disregard women experience as they age. One respondent states “older people are not seen as vital or important.” With this exhibition Susan works to disrupt this norm, making visible what patriarchy has sought to erase.

We are the Gods by Jamie Rose presents large scale charcoal figure drawings of those who have “in any way lived the female experience.” The women represented in the drawings are collaborators with Jamie as opposed to “subjects.” They are depicted in a way that honors and celebrates their bodies and personhood. Rose’s exhibition features women with diverse bodies and backgrounds, and each portrait is commanding. They are embellished with gold patterning, imbuing the human form with a sense of divinity and power. In her solo exhibition, Jamie Rose does not simply ask that we are viewed as human. Instead she demands that women be seen in the true power they possess. We are more than human. We are the Gods.

Helen Atkins, Jordyn Bernicke & Julia Mandeville Co-Curators & Cooperative Leadership Team, Harwood Art Center

WE ARE THE GODS

By Jamie Rose

There is a long history of women being identified with divinity and mysticism, magic and wickedness. The common factor in all of these tropes is power. Jamie Rose represents a variety of women with these drawings, including people of different backgrounds, cultures, ages, and body types to demonstrate that this power is not limited to an idealistic falsity. A percentage of the proceeds of sold work goes to the model, and another percentage goes to a nonprofit of the model’s choice (examples include Planned Parenthood, Dar a Luz Birthing Center, and the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico). The goal of this series is to raise awareness and funds for women and for the organizations that support the choices of women.

Despite how patriarchal bodies choose to recite history, without women, there is no life and no progress. We are the Gods.

Jamie Rose, The Scorpio, Charcoal, gold ink, 48″x60″, 2022

“I create full-scale, charcoal figure drawings representing people who have in any way lived the female experience. I work with models from many backgrounds, intentionally seeking out people with various cultural and racial identities, body types, and ages. The figures are then accented with gold ink, a layer which highlights the beauty, power, and strength of each person uniquely. “My goal as an artist is to make visible, in a positive manner, those who are often overlooked or who are so often purposefully made invisible. I depict my collaborators in a way which they have chosen and which celebrates their bodies and spirits.”. - Jamie

Rose

Jamie Rose, Quetzalcoatl, Charcoal, gold ink, 42″x50″, 2022 Jamie Rose, Fortify, Charcoal, gold ink, 35″ x 44″, 2022

Jamie Rose, We are the Gods installation, 2023, Aziza Murray & Harwood Art Center, All Rights Reserved

Jamie Rose, Rebozo, Charcoal, gold ink, 40″x40″, 2022

Jamie Rose, Diana, Charcoal, gold ink, 36″ x 64″, 2023

Jamie Rose, Kintsugi, Charcoal, gold ink, 48″x36″, 2021

Jamie Rose, Raven Rising, Charcoal, gold ink, 40″ x 46″, 2022

Jamie Rose, We are the Gods installation, 2023, Aziza Murray & Harwood Art Center, All Rights Reserved

jamie rose

Jamie Marie Rose [b. Peoria, IL] is a multi-disciplinary artist who creates anything from largescale drawings to ephemeral, site-specific installations. Rose has won many awards and honors for her artwork, including a Puffin Foundation Grant, the Jerry Raphael Fellowship through the Metropolitan Contemporary Glass Group, and the Glass Alliance-New Mexico grant. Her work has been featured in publications such as ‘American Craft’ and ‘Vogue’. Rose currently lives and works in Albuquerque, NM.

www.jamiemarierose.com

AGING . . . A FEMALE’S PERSPECTIVE

By Susan Roden

As a multidisciplinary artist, Susan has created a multi-platform installation centralizing upon the female perspective on aging’s physical and emotional impacts. Life’s natural process of aging affects all, yet western culture rarely discusses and the few words spoken are embedded with fallacies. Art transcends words, thus easily initiating dialogues on life’s natural process.

The exhibit consists of three segments, with the first of art dresses. The fabric substrate conceptualizes different biological stages of aging, such as dementia with techniques including hand printing, painting, dying and stitching.

The second component is mixed media tondos addressing ageism’s prejudices. One example is the beauty industry’s exploitation through products erasing visible age.

The final component is a Wall of Words. 13 to 86 year-old females’ personal reflections have been culled in a casual survey from California, Ohio and New Mexico. Anonymous viewpoints of four questions are scribed with attributed ages painted onto a wall.

PERSPECTIVE

“My current focus is interpretation of female viewpoints on aging and associated prejudices. One utilized substrate within the multi-installation is in the form of a dress, with each conceptualizing aging’s physical traits. As a woman and an artist that has surpassed several milestones of life, I feel enabled to voice reflections of biological processes that supersede all race, creed, gender or monetary status. Art is my vehicle to expose cultural stereotypes in initiating much-needed dialogues. This I wish to expound upon, for extended conversations provide greater insight as well as consolation on aging to all. ” – Susan Roden

Susan Roden, Aging. . . A Female’s Perspective, installation 2023, Aziza Murray & Harwood Art Center, All Rights Reserved; Susan E Roden, Degrees of Loneliness 8, wood, hand prints, acrylic, pencil, 7” round, 2022, and part of Susan E Roden, Degrees of Loneliness 2, wood, hand prints, acrylic, pencil, gold leaf, 11” round, 2023,

Susan E Roden, Degrees of Loneliness 13, wood, hand prints, acrylic, pencil, 7” round, 2022

Susan Roden, Love + Blood Puberty, fabric, hand prints, pencil, thread, sisal, dye, 35”x36”x12”, 2023, Aziza Murray & Harwood Art Center,

Susan Roden, Aging. . . A Female’s Perspective, installation 2023, Aziza Murray & Harwood Art Center, All Rights Reserved; Susan Roden, Love + Blood Puberty (detail), fabric, hand prints, pencil, thread, sisal, dye, 35”x36”x12”, 2023, Aziza Murray & Harwood Art Center, All Rights Reserved; Susan E Roden, Degrees of Loneliness 4, wood, hand prints, acrylic, pencil, gold leaf, 11” round, 2023

susan roden

Albuquerque multidisciplinary artist Susan E. Roden, attended the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Houston Art Institute. Her art, painting and sculptures, is exhibited nationally and recipient of awards including Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club’s 1994 Medal of Honor for pastels (NY). She attended residencies at Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park (2009), California’s Desert Dairy Farm (2021, 2022, 2024) and Mission Street Arts, Jemez (2023).

Roden was featured on the Pastel Artist International Magazine (2002) cover with an accompanying article of her technique. She was an artistic collaborator with Albuquerque’s Theatre Aux Dog and playwright Mark Dunn’s production, Diptych (2019), which featured 32 pieces of Roden’s art representing the Daughter / Artist’s character.

She has taught at the UC San Diego Extension, San Diego Museum of Art, New Mexico Art League, and Oasis / Albuquerque and is a juried member with the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club (NY), Distinguished Pastelist and Past President of the Pastel Society of New Mexico.

As a multidisciplinary artist, Susan E Roden’s range of genres and mediums are varied with the commonality of portraying the subtleties of life. Emotion-based art amplifies and touches humanity within a setting through the composed visual elements of movement, shadow and color and with cropped compositions to draw one’s eye into the scene.

Susan E Roden, Invisible, wood, hand prints, acrylic, pencil, 19.5” round, 2023; Susan Roden, Aging. . . A Female’s Perspective, installation 2023, Aziza Murray & Harwood Art Center, All Rights Reserved; Susan E Roden, Beauty is Skin Deep, hand prints, acrylic, pencil, gold leaf, 2022, 19.5” round

HArWood ArT CENTEr 2023 eXHIbITioN cALeNdAr HArWood ArT CENTEr 2023 eXHIbITioN cALeNdAr

Harwood Art Center is dedicated to providing exhibition, audience expansion and professional development opportunities to artists working in any media and from diverse creative fields. Featuring established, emerging, and youth artists, our Galleries Program engages a supportive process from concept development through installation and public opening. For more information, or to learn how to apply, please visit harwoodartcenter.org

JANUARY 18 - FEBRUARY 23

Blossoming: The Artists of ArtStreet, Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless ArtStreet, an outreach program of Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless, presents: Blossoming, a visual representation of the renaissance taking place within the ArtStreet community and featuring a collection of works by individuals, as well as a collaborative installation made by the artists and representatives of ArtStreet.

Reception: Saturday, February 4 | 4:30pm - 6:30pm

MARCH 8 - APRIL 13

ENCOMPASS: A Multi-Generational Art Event

An annual celebration that is both a reflection of and an offering to our community, Encompass features Open Studios, art making activites, installations by student artists, and four invitational exhibitions including:

Grief Movement: Goathead Studios

Archive of Memory: Juliana Coles

Reception: Saturday, April 1 | 4:00pm - 8:00pm

APRIL 26 - JUNE 1

Aging... A Female’s Perspective: Susan Roden

A multi-platform installation comprised of fine art dresses, mixed media tondos and printed words culled from anonymous surveys, centralizing upon the female perspective on aging’s physical and emotional impacts.

We Are the Gods: Jamie Rose

This exhibition, which consists of large-scale figurative drawings and glass, celebrates the beauty and power of those who have in any way lived the female experience.

Reception + Artist Talks: Saturday, May 13 | 4:30pm

JUNE 14 - JULY 27

SURFACE: Emerging Artists of New Mexico

Harwood Art Center’s annual juried exhibition, professional development and endowed awards program honors emerging artists currently living and working in New Mexico.

Tears of My Ancestors: Cortney YellowHorse-Metzger

Solo Exhibition Award Winner of our 2022 SURFACE: Emerging Artists of New Mexico program.

Reception + Artist Talks: Saturday, June 24 | 5:00pm - 7:00pm

AUGUST 9 - SEPTEMBER 14

Ithacan Mythologies: Harley Kirschner

Ithacan Mythologies merges Art Nouveau renditions of Greek Mythologies and baroque Vanitas with trans and queer ecologies and the embrace of the continuous apocalypse. Using discarded mirrors and glass, laser etching, furniture design, oil paint and metalsmithing, Harley Kirschner creates works that feel, at once, unmakeable and deeply personal.

miss me when i’m gone: mk

By printing larger-than-life reproductions of archival photographs from the artist’s family photo albums, and incorporating different media such as found/stolen objects, printmaking techniques, and sculpture, they confront their identity as well as their upbringing as it transitions to their present-day life as an adult, and within the function of photographic memory.

Reception + Artist Talks: Saturday, August 26 | 4:30pm - 6:30pm

SEPTEMBER 20 - OCTOBER 26

Residency for Art & Social Justice

Harwood’s Residency for Art & Social Justice features and supports artists working at the intersections of creative expression and social justice. The nine month program includes a private studio at Harwood, artist and material honoraria, project support and a public exhibition.

Reception + Artist Talks: Saturday, October 14 | 4:30pm - 6:30pm

DECEMBER 1 & 2

12x12 Fundraising Exhibitions

Harwood’s annual fundraising exhibitions: 12x12, 6x6 and Prelude featuring work by established, emerging and youth artists from New Mexico. This event includes ~200 works that remain anonymous until sold – for the flat rates of $144 (12”x12”) or $36 (6”x6”). Prelude highlights the intersections of art, design and daily living with works by notable New Mexico artists.

Exhibition Reception: Friday, December 1 | 5:30pm - 7:30pm 12x12 Online Store Opens: Saturday, December 2 | 6:00pm

Image Credits (Left; Top-Bottom): Juliana Coles, Studio WIP; Alina Pozas, Box for Bones; Grief Movement; mk, Our last Family Portrait; (Right; Top-Bottom): Susan Roden, BROKEN EGGS / Barren & Infertility Dress; Cortney Metzger, first touch; Harley Kirschner, Persephone’s Apothecary; Jamie Rose, The Scorpio.

Harwood offers four capstone exhibitions annually, ENCOMPASS: A Multi-Generational Art Event, SURFACE: Emerging Artists of New Mexico, and BRIDGE: Residency for Art & Social Justice.12x12 is our annual fundraiser; all proceeds support our free community arts education, outreach and professional development.

ABOUT HARWOOD ART CENTER & ESCUELA DEL SOL MONTESSORI

HARWOOD ART CENTER’S GALLERIES PROGRAM

is dedicated to providing exhibition, audience expansion and professional development opportunities to artists working in any media and from diverse creative fields. Our galleries program is curated and managed by our Chief Programs Officer and Associate Directors of Opportunity and Engagement. Artists are invited to exhibit during three of our annual capstone events, Encompass, Residency for Art & Social Justice & 12x12, the rest of our exhibitions are awarded to individuals and groups through a competitive application process. Most of our applications are free to apply, any collected fees allocated to replenishing Harwood’s endowed cash awards for the program. Each featured exhibition is a supportive process, we work with the artists from concept development to installation in the galleries. For our 2021 exhibiting artists, we have developed a hybrid offering of both in person and virtual programming. For each exhibition we create comprehensive outreach and digital materials including exhibition catalogs, virtual galleries and artist talks to support the unique visions and voices of our gallery artists.

Seeded in 1991, Harwood Art Center blooms the philosophy of our parent organization Escuela del Sol Montessori, with recognition that learning and expression offer the most resilient pathways to global citizenship, justice and peace. Harwood engages the arts as a catalyst for lifelong learning, cultural enrichment and social change, with programming for every age, background and income level. We believe that equitable access to the arts and opportunities for creative expression are integral to healthy individuals and thriving communities. In all of our work, we cultivate inclusive, reflective environments where everyone feels cared for. We nurture long-term, multi-faceted relationships with participants, building programs with and for diverse communities of Albuquerque. We integrate the arts with social justice, professional and economic growth, and education to cultivate a higher collective quality of life in New Mexico.

For 50 years, Escuela del Sol, an independent Montessori school, has nurtured selfdiscovery, social responsibility and passion for learning in our students. Each day Escuela supports students from ages 18 months to 13 years on their real-world quests to excel academically and to develop the skills they need for meaningful, happy and successful futures.

HARWOOD ART CENTER’S PHOTOGRAPHER IN RESIDENCE

We are so thrilled to have established an official Photographer in Residence opportunity- a new ongoing residency at Harwood Art Center. This residency includes an annual honorarium and rent credit for a studio at Harwood. Aziza Murray, who was our inaugural Galleries & Exhibition Photographer, is now our Photographer in Residence.

We are able to present this residency and honorarium thanks to the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund, New Mexico Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and the McCune Charitable Foundation.

AZIZA MURRAY is a New Mexico based artist working primarily in photography. In 2015 she graduated with an MFA from the University of New Mexico where she also worked as a pictorial archiving fellow for the Center for Southwest Research. Since then, Aziza has worked in different capacities in the film industry in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, further piquing her interest in cinematography. Much of her work stems from a well of nostalgia for objects and moments, the materiality of photography, and her personal history—from experiencing tragic loss at an early age, to her multilayered experiences as a biracial person growing up in Washington, DC. She has shown her work in DC at Connersmith and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in Albuquerque at the Harwood Art Center, the UNM Art Museum and the National Hispanic Cultural Center and, at MASS Gallery in Austin, TX.

azizamurray.com

azizamurray@gmail.com